The run against time
by Tai Ru Kaerisato
Summary: All of Lucy's celestial spirits have been imprisoned in books that are scattered all over Earthland, she has to collect them all before time runs out! Also, what are these newfound feelings for a certain fire mage? How will she deal with them? NaLu, GaLe.    Dropped.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey people! I can happily announce that this is my first Fairy Tail fanfiction! I really enjoyed writing this first chapter, even though it's kind of long, haha. I'm expecting this story to have around 20 chapters, so it's going to be taking me around a year or so, since I also have final exams :p I hope you enjoy! ^_^

**Happy: ***tugs at my sleeve* Ne, can I have some fish?

**TRK: **I'll give it to you after this chapter!

**Happy: **Aye! I can't wait!

**Natsu: **Right! Just move on with the story already!

**Happy: **Aye sir! *thinks about fish*

**TRK: **Geez, how impatient... well, here we go!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters :)

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><p>It was a rainy morning in Magnolia. The people who were still on the streets desperately tried to find some shelter from the pouring rain. It was then that a girl with shining blonde hair rushed through the small streets. She was holding some white dog-like creature in one arm and held a thick book in the other. She stopped in front of the gates of Fairy Tail guild for a second and took a deep breath. Her face was flushed and she had a look of determination washed all over her features. She inhaled once again and wiped some water droplets from her pretty face. She pushed herself through the guild's entrance and walked straight over to her blunette friend, Levy.<p>

"Levy!" She greeted her best friend with a wide smile on her face.

The blunette looked up from the book she was reading and waved at the blonde, "Lu-chan! You're totally soaked!"

Lucy blushed slightly and scratched her cheek, "hehehe... I didn't think of bringing an umbrella since I was in such a rush." She suddenly looked around, searching for a certain pink haired dragon slayer, hoping he would miraculously run up to her and yell her name with excitement, telling her he was back. But she didn't spot him. She sighed in disappointment.

"Eh, Lucy, miss him much huh?" Levy teased, resting her chin on one hand and winking at the blonde.

"What're you talking about! It's not like that at all!" Lucy spat out in one breath, and fel her cheeks starting to burn rapidly.

"A-anyways," she decided to change the subject, "I need your help." It's not that Lucy didn't miss him, but she preferred to avoid talking about him.  
>Levy grinned and motioned for Lucy to sit down beside her. Lucy obliged, putting both her Celestial Spirit Plue and the book she carried on the table.<p>

"Before you tell me what you need me to help with, you should first dry yourself off before you catch a cold again,'' Levy said and handed Lucy a towel.  
>Lucy took the towel and dried herself off as much as she could, while doing so, her mind wandered off to Natsu. Lately, she hadn't been able to take him out of her mind, especially after he left for that two week long mission along with Gray, Erza and Happy. They have been away for three days now and she found herself missing him way too much. After she was done drying herself, she handed the towel back to Levy while thanking her absentmindedly.<p>

"So Lu-chan, what do you need my help for?"

Lucy snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at the thick book she had brought along. "It's this book, Fire House 1: The Ram. It must be a very rare one, cause I've never heard of it before." At saying this, she scratched her chin and looked at the ceiling.

The blunette blinked several times before processing the information she had just gotten. After a while she said, "Are you kidding me? How did you get your hands on such a rare book?"

"That's just it! I don't know how the heck it ended up on my desk. I just woke up this morning and it was lying there!" At this point, she grabbed the book and pointed at the cover, "Moreover, the name of the author isn't even written on it!"

Levy reached out for the book and examined it, flipping through the pages. As she did so, her mouth fell open, "L-Lu-chan...?" She said nervously. Lucy looked at her in confusion as she continued. "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"

Levy gulped down harshly and said slowly in a throaty voice, "you have a spirit called Aries right?"

Lucy only nodded, getting more and more confused by the second. It was then that Levy turned the opened book for Lucy to look at and what she saw made the blonde almost fall off her chair from shock. Right in the page was Aries herself; she was looking shyly over at Lucy with her rosy cheeks and a hand covering her mouth.

"Aries? What are you doing over there? How did you get in there?" Lucy yelled at the book and grabbed it fiercely.

"S-sumimasen... I can't hear you, but if master can hear me I will try to tell you what happened." Aries bowed apologetically and brought her hand up to cover her mouth again.

Lucy put the book down vertically on the table. Luckily, it was still early in the morning, so not many guild members were present, and the ones who were, were too busy chatting away with each other, or were just too tired to notice what was happening.

Levy and Lucy looked at each other and shrugged. Lucy then motioned for Aries to talk. "Sumimasen! It all started this morning..." She paused for a bit and inhaled, "master was still sleeping when all of a sudden a bright light shined out of master's desk." Lucy's and Levy's eyes widened at this. Lucy's head was spinning, 'what the heck was happening?' she thought. Lucy weakly motioned for Aries to continue. "After that, a caped man emerged from master's desk. He was holding onto a black key and made his way towards master's bed." Aries shut her eyes tightly, suppressing some tears from falling down. "Th-that man, he pointed his key towards master and with another flash of light we were sucked into that black key." Aries' tears began to pour out and she apologized several times.

"Master Lucy! We don't have much time left! If you don't rescue all of the 12 gold Celestial Spirits within 12 weeks, we'll be turned into drawings in each of our books for eternity!"

"...but what do I need to do?" ...

"Master Lucy! You should collect all of the 12 books, each representing the element and zodiacal house we belong to. You can only do it with the help of the dragon!" Aries then shrieked a bit and looked at her leg, it was turning into a drawing. She turned to look at Lucy again.

"Sumimasen! I don't have much time left, we'll be aiding you with our hearts master Lu..." Aries couldn't finish her sentence; she had completely turned into a mere drawing.

Lucy couldn't believe her ears and grabbed onto the book desperately, "Aries! Tell me who this man is! How exactly did you end up in this book?" But she knew way too well it was already too late to get any answers from the shy spirit.

Levy was in a complete state of shock, her mind was totally blank and she was sweating and trembling all over. She recalled reading something familiar to this in a book a few years ago while on a mission. It was exactly like how Aries had described it, but she just couldn't believe it could all have actually been true!

She then put a hand on her blonde friend's shoulder to calm her down. "Lu-chan, I know who that man is..." She said in a serious tone.  
>Lucy stopped trembling and looked over at Levy with a hopeful look in her eyes.<p>

Levy continued, "It's the Dark Celestial Mage, Rai Tu Kaerisato. He was believed to have lived thousands of years ago, but his existence was thought to be nothing more than a story... a fairy tale. His name remained known throughout the years, popping up in many written books, in paintings, and even in statues." Levy took a deep breath and continued, "but suddenly in the year X777 all of the books, paintings and statues that had anything to do with him disappeared... Even people's memories about him were completely erased" She started biting her lower lip and looked down.

Lucy was overwhelmed by fear and asked, "how did you know about him then?"

Levy answered, "I-I... Two years ago I went on this mission to Estelle Island with Jet and Droy..." She looked down at the table and furrowed her eyebrows, "while on the mission, we stumbled upon this old and ripped book with neither a title nor an author's... I took it home and started reading it."  
>Lucy, curious, asked her to go on.<p>

Encouraged, Levy continued, "This writer knew all about a man named Rai Tu Kaerisato. The mage's entire life story was written down in this one book. It said that he was such an evil Celestial Spirit mage that he was even banished from both this world and the spirit world. As to say, he was sent to live eternally in 'nothingness' where he would never get to rest peacefully." Levy folded her arms together and looked over at Lucy, whose eyes were wide in shock, "the reason he was banished was because he made use of the dark spirits who were not allowed to enter the spirit world ever again, and promised to save them from dying and disappearing." Lucy's eyes widened and her thoughts wandered back to the time when she had saved Loke from disappearing eternally.

Levy continued, "he created black keys, where the dark spirits he picked up could enter a world that is said to be the mirror of our own world... You yourself have been there Lu-chan, the writer called Edolas!"

Lucy stood agape, trying to speak, but unable to find her words. Levy continued, "the spirits could regain their magical power in that other world, but the rulers of Earthland found out about Rai Tu Kaerusato's actions and banished both him and his spirits into 'nothingness' and that is how he ceased to exist. His existence was shaken off as just a fairy tale that was told to kids before they went to sleep... And so it went on until something weird happened in the year X777..." At this Levy shrugged. "The last pages were burnt so I couldn't read what happened afterwards."

Lucy had a streak of sweat running down the side of her forehead, she was shocked and confused at the same time, then an idea struck her mind. "So that's it! Now I understand what could have happened!" She said while slamming her fist onto the table, attracting some attention from guild members. She just smiled at them and waved it off.

Lucy cleared her throat and sat back down facing Levy. "Look, you said he sent his spirits to Edolas right?" Levy nodded, "What I think is that somehow he and his spirits managed to return in the year X777 and since Edolas ran out of magic recently, he began searching for another way to feed his dark spirits so they wouldn't disappear." Levy's mind started to light up and she finished Lucy's hypothesis, "so Rai Tu Kaerisato kidnapped your golden key spirits and stole their magic away and gave it to his spirits..."

Lucy's expression turned into a sad one, "and since they lost their magical power, they'll be disappearing into nothingness soon, meaning they'll just become drawings in books for an eternity, just like fairy tales." As she said this, she turned to look at the drawing of a scared Aries on the page, "Aries has already become one..." Lucy started sobbing uncontrollably and shook her head fiercely. Levy hugged her tightly, patting her back. At that moment, Mirajane, who had walked in just a minute ago, rushed over to their side.

"Lucy-san? Levy-san? What's wrong? Why are the both of you crying?" She encircled both Levy and Lucy in a big hug.

All three of them started sobbing, while the remaining guild members walked over to them and asked if they were all right.

Elfman and Lisanna walked in and rushed over to the crying girls.

"Seeing a girl cry and not doing anything about it is not manly!" Elfman yelled into the air, as he began to cry as well.

"Sh-shut up! I just can't deal with crying women!" Macao said in a defensive tone. Many other male guild members nodded in agreement.

Mira-nee! Lucy-san! Levy-san! What's wrong with you girls? Why are you crying?" Lisanna said, tears starting to build up in her eyes. She couldn't watch other people cry or she'd end up crying as well.

At that moment, Lucy wriggled herself out of Mirajane's and Levy's grip and stood up, "I will NOT let you hurt my friends! I'll save them and you'll pay for this, Rai Tu Kaerisato!" She yelled, pointing at the ceiling.

...

"What the heck? You're weird as usual Luce!"

"Aye!"

"Hmph, as if you're one to talk flame-brains."

"You all better have been good while I was gone."

Lucy's heart jumped up in her chest as she realized who were the ones standing at the guild's entrance.

"NATSU! GRAY! ERZA! HAPPY! I MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH!" She yelled overjoyed and dashed up to them and she quickly gave each one of them a bone-crushing hug and stopped right before Natsu. 'Why can't I hug him? Why am I this embarrased?' her thoughts were shaken off as she felt two warm arms wrap around her. Giving in, she hugged him back tightly.

"I missed you the most," she whispered for only him to hear.

Natsu tightened his embrace around herand Lucy could feel him grin. "I missed you, too, Luce!" He whispered back into her ear, sending chills down her spine and making her blush madly. They stayed like that until they were brought back to reality by a cough.

"Ehem! Look who're the ones acting all lovey-dovey this early in the morning." Cana said while entering through the gates with her never missing barrel of beer in her arm.

The two quickly let go of each other and fumed at Cana, "we're NOT lovey-dovey!" they yelled in unison.

The rest of the guild members sweat dropped as they all thought, _yes, you are_.

Suddenly, Lisanna remembered Lucy, Levy, and Mirajane crying a while back and brought up the subject again, "so why were the three of you crying back then?" she said, while pointing at the three girls.

Mirajane was the first to reply, "I just walked in and saw them crying and felt like crying too." She said while blushing a bit at her embarrassing revelation. "I can't stand watching other people cry... But still I'm wondering, why were the two of you crying?"

The rest of the guild looked at Lucy and Levy in curiosity. Levy grabbed Lucy by her wrist and took her to a corner of the guild.

"Oi! What are the two of you doing!" They heard guild members yell after them.

"Lu-chan! Should we tell them about what just happened?" Levy whispered in a desperate tone.

Lucy looked back to her pink-haired best friend who had, unsurprising, engaged himself in a fight with Gray for unknown reasons. She turned to look at Levy again. "I... Aries did say something about the help of the dragon, didn't she?"

"Yes, I remember her saying that... Wait, Lu-chan! Do you think she might've meant a dragon slayer?"

"Yes, I see no other way around it." She paused and furrowed her eyebrows, "I think we shouldn't tell them about this, but I do want to gather Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy for a private meeting."

Levy agreed, "We shouldn't make the rest worry."

"Are you planning on keeping us out of an awesome mission?" Suddenly Gray and Erza had popped up behind them.

"Gah! How much did you hear?" Lucy demanded.

"Something about a private meeting with those dragon slayers," Gray answered, already stripped down to his shorts.

"Gray! Your clothes!" Levy and Lucy yelled in unison. Erza sent him a death glare that made him back off a bit.

"I'll give you 10 seconds." She said in a menacing tone.

Gray then ran off in search of his missing clothes.

"Are you looking for this, ice-brain?" Natsu cockily said, holding onto Gray's pants, while waving them around with his hand.

"You! Give them back, right now!" Gray yelled back to Natsu, after the latter had taken off, spewing fire from his mouth and laughing uncontrollably.

Both were forced to stop when the all-too-scary Erza stood in front of them with a gleam in her eyes and a dark aura surrounding her figure.  
>Natsu quickly gave Gray back his pants and both proceeded to put their arms around each other's shoulders.<p>

"How've you been Erza? Me, here spending some time with my best friend, hehe!" Gray blurted out awkwardly, faking a smile.

"Aye!" Natsu chimed in.

Back at the guild's corner, Lucy mumbled, "there goes Happy nr. 2"

Levy couldn't resist a giggle, but then turned to look at her blonde best friend again. "Lu-chan, about the meeting, I think it's a good idea. We have to hurry and collect all 12 books." She said with a serious tone.

Lucy, who was lost in thought again, turned to look at Levy and gave a small shrug, "guess you're right."

"Ok, you go ask Natsu while I go look for Gajeel at his apartment." Levy said.

"Oh, Levy-chan, didn't know you knew where he lived," Lucy eyed Levy while the latter blushed. She seriously had to suppress a chuckle.

"Aw shut up! As if you're one to talk." After saying this, the blunette gave Natsu a skeptical look before returning her gaze to a blushing Lucy and winking at her, "you know who I'm talking about, Lu-chan."

"And I keep telling you it's not like that. We're just best friends, nothing more, nothing less." The blonde said, ignoring the grin on Levy's face and making her way towards Natsu, who lay scattered on the ground with Gray just beside him.

_I think I'll come back later_, she thought. She didn't also want to get involved in Erza's bad mood. So the blonde turned around and made her way towards the book where Aries was imprisoned in. She opened the book to the page Aries was in and felt how tears started to build up in her eyes once again.  
>How could she let this have happened? How could she not have protected her friends? She will have to make up for this. She was definitely going to make up for it.<p>

Lucy didn't notice somebody was watching her worriedly, standing just across from her from the table. Lisanna had seen Lucy picking up the book and had seen how Lucy's expression slowly saddened.

"Lucy-san..." she said in a soft breath, and just loud enough for Lucy to hear.

Lucy looked up and was surprised to see Lisanna standing there. It wasn't that she disliked the girl, but the two hadn't exchanged that many words, so she still felt a bit awkward around the take-over mage.

"Lucy-san, you can tell me whatever's wrong, you can trust me with anything!" The silver haired girl said. She also felt as if she and Lucy weren't really that much of friends, but still, she was her nakama, so why not build up a friendship?

"I..eh..well you see..." Lucy began, she found herself nervous. She wasn't sure of telling her or not.

"Take your time, I'm listening," Lisanna said and smiled softly over at the blonde, reassuring her of what she had said.

Lucy smiled back at her and then looked down at the book in her hands. She looked over at Lisanna again, "please, come with me."

Lisanna followed. She made her way around the table and stopped right beside Lucy. Lucy turned to face the Strauss sibling and started to make her way into the girls' bathroom and closed the door behind them.

"Look at this," Lucy said as she opened the book and showed Lisanna the page in which Aries was imprisoned as a drawing.

Lisanna gasped and paled, "no way... Is that..." her voice trailed off.

Lucy looked down sadly and nodded.

Then, to Lucy's total surprise, Lisanna enveloped her in a hug. The girl embraced her tightly and Lucy felt she had made a great friend and hugged her back, smiling softly.

After a while, they let go of each other and Lucy could distinguish a spark of worry in Lisanna's eyes. "If you need my help in anything, you can just ask and I'll be right there," she said.

At that moment, Lucy understood why she and Natsu had been such good friends; Lisanna was undeniably a very kind person, and quite pretty at that. She felt a pang of jealousy, but shook it off quickly.

"It's okay, I-I think I'll do just fine, but thank you. And also, please promise me you won't tell anybody else about this..." Lucy said with a soft smile.

"Okay, I promise!" Lisanna replied and they both exited the bathroom, each heading towards their different destinations. Lucy let out a sight of contentment as she made her way towards Natsu.

Just at that moment, Natsu was sitting at the bar taking sips from his favorite drink and joking, now and then, about stuff with his little best friend, Happy.  
>Erza had almost knocked the living daylights out of him and Gray, oooh no, the woman happened to have been in a real foul mood, since they've woken up to leave yesterday. The mission could have been a success, had it not been for him and Gray getting into a fight at the last minute and causing so much damage they had to pay for the repairs with their reward. To tell the truth, he hadn't been in the best of moods either. He had missed a certain blonde girl while on the mission, but that's something he hadn't paid further attention to. He was just glad he could see her again, because, after all, she was, along with Happy, his best friend.<p>

"Natsu? Why are you ignoring me?" The blue-furred cat asked with little tears showing at the corner of his eyes.

"Huh? Oh... Happy! I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought, hehehe!" The fire mage replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Natsu?" Lucy had walked up to him and Happy at that moment.

Natsu jumped up and felt his heartbeat pick up after facing her. She looked extraordinarily... _beautiful?_ Her lips looked soft and pink, her hair was messed up a little from the rain and strands of hair fell loosely against her face. Her cheeks were stained with that rosy color of always. Natsu had to mentally slap himself out of his trance and cleared his throat, "yo Luce! What's up?"

The blonde beauty (or so she was, according to Natsu) raised an eyebrow and proceeded to say what was on her mind, "Look Natsu, something terrible just happened and I really need your help..."

S S S S S S S S S S S

At that same time, in front of Gajeel's apartment, stood a petite blunette girl. She knocked on the door, not so softly.

An annoyed metal dragon slayer opened the door and looked down to see no other than the girl who made him feel so damn vulnerable. He inwardly sighed.

"Hi there, mind if I come in?" Levy grinned up at him.

Gajeel let out a small groan, "hmph, only if it's something important."

"Mind you! And what if it were not?" The girl complained, but still made her way into his apartment.

A small, black talking cat with a scar on his face peeked around the corner of the apartment's entrance and, identifying who had come visit, snickered a bit. He would love to see something happen between those two.

Gajeel led Levy into the small living room and Levy let herself fall onto the comfortable couch.

"I'll get you something to drink, be right back." Gajeel said quickly and left for the kitchen.

Levy smiled proudly to herself, she had taught him well. Other times when she had come to visit, he wouldn't even offer her a place to sit down. How to tame a dragon?, she laughed softly.

Gajeel returned with two coca-colas and put them on the metal table in the middle of the living room and plopped down beside Levy on the couch.

"So, be fast and tell me what you came here for," Gajeel said, looking at the opposite wall.

Levy pouted at this and brought her hand up to his face, forcing him turn to look at her, not before noticing how rough his skin felt against her hand and how this made her heart flutter in her chest and her stomach make flip-flops.

Gajeel's face suddenly caught fire, or so he thought. He quickly brushed her hand off his cheek and tried to suppress a blush.

Levy laughed inwardly as she noticed the deep blush on Gajeel's face. Why was he blushing anyway?

"Look at me when you're talking to me," she said in a serious tone.

Gajeel shrugged, blush long gone, "whatever, just say whatever you gotta say."

Levy glared at him, but decided this was not the time to start a fight. "Lu-chan and I need your help with something," she started.

"Oh, bunny girl," Gajeel put in, which earned him a soft slap to his arm by Levy.

"What the..."

"Let me finish, will you?" Levy said in an irritated tone, "I said that we need your help. It's for Lucy and her spirits' sake. They've been kidnapped and are in a life-threatening situation... We need the help of the dragons to collect 12 scattered books, meaning you, Natsu, and Wendy." Levy tried to explain as quickly as possible.

Gajeel arched a pierced eyebrow and scratched his chin, "so what exactly do I need to do?"

"I don't know exactly, but Aries said the books could only be found with the help of the dragon."

Gajeel thought for a second and finally answered with a smirk, "guess I can help you out then. Gotta prove I'm way stronger than that fire-brain. When are we leaving?"

Levy prevented herself from growing mad for his ever-present hunger-for-a-fight attitude. She let out a sigh and said, "don't know yet, we'll have to get together in a while. I still gotta go look for Wendy. See you in a while at the guild then?" And she stood up, dusting her skirt off.

"'kay, see ya at the guild, kid," Gajeel motioned for her to leave with a flick of his wrist, while looking the other way, pout placed on his mouth.

Levy's anger boiled up and she slapped him across the face with all her glorious might. Too bad she had forgotten he was made out of steel.  
>"Ow!" was all she could bring herself to say. Her hand had swollen red and she felt her heart thumping madly at her fingertips. Now she was really mad!<p>

"GIHEHEHEHE~!" Gajeel had rolled off the couch, clutching his stomach from laughing too hard, and was now rolling around the floor, kicking his feet in the air like a madman.

Levy could only glare at him as teardrops started to form in her eyes. Then, she turned away quickly. "Gajeel! I hate you! I hate you so much!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, before dashing out of the dragon slayer's apartment.

She quickly ran her way towards Fairy Hills, where Wendy and Charle resided in. She could only think of how much she hated that stupid Gajeel, he... he was so damned irritating! He's always making fun of her just because she's small. As if he's all that good! Hmpf!

Levy decided to erase all thoughts regarding Gajeel as she approached the dormitories. She watched as the little girl with her kitten walked out and quickly made her way towards them.

"Wendy-chan! Charle-chan!" she greeted them, forcing a smile onto her face, she was still upset after all. She needed to talk to Lucy as soon as possible.

"Levy-san, good morning!" Wendy greeted back.

"Good morning," the white exceed also greeted her with a smile.

"I need your guys' help with something," Levy started to say and proceeded to tell them the whole story, to which Wendy and Charle agreed to do their best to assist her and Lucy.

"Okay! Let's head towards the guild then," Levy said and they all took off in a dash.

S S S S S S S S S

Going back in time a little, where Lucy had approached Natsu and Happy at the bar...

"Look Natsu, something terrible just happened and I really need your help..." Lucy said, sounding sad again.

**To be continued...**

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><p>So that was it! Thanks for reading up till the end XD I hope you leave a review behind :)<p>

Expect me to update the next chapter by next week!

**Happy:** Aye! Can I have some fish now?

**TRK:** Yes yes, here you go. *throws fish in face*

**Happy:** *flies away crying* Natsuuuu~! She's being mean to me!

**TRK:** Haha! Anyways, I'll see you guys later!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Ohayouuu~~! First of all I want to thank all of you for all those wonderful reviews! It made me feel satisfied, so I moved on to write the second chapter ASAP, so here you go! Enjooy! =^_^=

**Lucy:** Fairy Tail...!

**Levy: **... or any of its characters..!

**Gajeel: **... don't belong to that woman.

**Levy: ***throws book at Gajeel's head*

**Gajeel: **Shoo-bi-doo-wah...?

**Happy: **Aye! Let's move on to the story!

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><p><em>Going back in time a little, where Lucy had approached Natsu and Happy at the bar...<em>

"Look Natsu, something terrible just happened and I really need your help..." Lucy said, sounding sad again.

Natsu stopped staring at Lucy's face and switched back to his normal mode. But just at that exact moment, Happy's nostrills filled themselves with the air of tasty fish.

"Fish!" his eyes shined and his mouth watered.

"See you later!" He said and flew off, looking for the source of the smell.

Lucy watched him leave with a streak of sweat rolling down the side of her forehead, _what's up with that cat?_

"Lucy... What happened?" Natsu asked in his most Natsu-ish serious tone, making Lucy turn her attention back to him.

Lucy kept staring at the ground as she fidgetted with her fingers, a soft blush had made its way to her cheeks and she found herself not being able to look him in the eye. _Since when am I this nervous while talking to him..._

"Lucy? Are you still going to tell me?" Natsu was growing impatient, he sure wasn't the type to wait patiently.

Lucy practically forced herself to look back up at him, but when she met his eyes she adverted her eyes back to the ground all of a sudden. She didn't want to raise a suspicion in him, no matter how impossible it would sound, so she moved on to tell him the whole story.

"...and that's all that happened.." She heard a loud snoring and she raised her head to look up at him."Natsu? Did you just fall asleep on me?" She cursed inwardly at his idiocy.

"Lucy, stop bullying Natsu!" Happy accused her, he was just returning from his little adventure and was holding onto a fish.

"Shut up you annoying cat!" She snapped back at Happy and turned to look at the sleeping figure of Natsu again.

What she did next, is something that neither she nor Natsu would ever forget for the rest of the whole day. Lucy called Mirajane over and told her to bring her a glass of ice cold water. Then all of a sudden she splashed it all over his face without any kind of compassion. Dare he sleep and even snore on her while she was telling him such an important story!

"Graaaaay! Fist of the fire dragon!" The dragon slayer roared.

If it had not been for Natsu's fast reflexes or even so for Lucy lingering just above him at that exact moment. Lucy Heartfilia certainly wouldn't have been sent flying all the way over to Magnolia river just in front of her house...

Lucy's brow twitched in irritation as she thought of a million ways on how to kill Natsu.

S S S S S S S S S

Levy, Wendy and Charle entered through the guild's gates in a rush. They were all breathing heavily.

Levy looked around to see if she could spot Lucy anywhere, but all she saw was a confused-looking Natsu at the bar scratching his head with Happy just beside him throwing his little paws in the air, like he was explaining the fire mage something.

"Where are Gajeel-san and Lucy-san?" Wendy suddenly asked from behind her.

Levy turned around to look at her and lifted her shoulders, "'about Gajeel, he'll probably be here in a while... But Lu-chan is the one who worries me, she was supposed to have gone to talk to Natsu."

Wendy and Charle turned to look at the bar and saw both Natsu and Happy fidgetting uncomfortably in their places. _Wait... Do they look like they're scared of something..?_

"Hmpf! Those two probably have been mischievous this early in the morning, how childish," Charle commented, folding her little pads around her chest in disapprovement.

"Alright, lets go ask Natsu and Happy if they know where Lu-chan is," Levy said and all three of them made their way towards Natsu and Happy and as they approached them, they heard something of what they were talking about.

"... I probably should go and apologise to her..." Natsu said in a tone that sounded almost like if he felt guilty of something.

"Hey Natsu! Happy!" Levy greeted them, which made the two males jump up in their seats and turn around in surprise.

"Oh! It's just you.. phew!" Natsu said, blowing out some air he was holding in.

"Natsu-san, Happy-san. Good morning!" Wendy greeted as well, to which Charle only nodded at them and turned her head to the side, annoyed by the looks Happy was sending her.

"Good morning!" Natsu grinned at them from ear to ear.

"Anyways Natsu, we were wondering if you have seen Lu-chan around anywhere? She said she was going to talk to you about what happened," Levy questioned.

"Ah! Aah yes yes! I saw her just now, but she suddenly left, saying something about... about...," Natsu said nervously in a rushy tone. He looked over at his bluefurred friend, asking for some support.

"Aye! She needed to go to the toilet!" Happy put in, one paw raised into the air.

"Hmmm 'kay. Has she told you guys about what happened already?" Levy pushed in, she definitely didn't trust their explanation and not even so after hearing about Natsu's comment just a while back. _Apologise to whom? Lu-chan?_

"Eh? Tell me about what?" Natsu trully looked confused for a minute until he remembered about Lucy wanting to tell him something terrible that had just happened, he had listened up until the part where Levy and her had found Aries imprisoned in the book. After that he had slowly drifted to a deep slumber, only to be awakened by a shriek resounding throughout the whole guild.

"Don't tell me she hasn't told you yet...?" Levy played along with his game.

"Nop, I'm sure she hasn't. She probably forgot or something," Natsu said as a matter-of-factly.

"Guess I'll go look for her in the bathroom then," she turned around her heels and started heading slowly towards the bathroom.

"No, wait! Uh... I don't think she's there anymore!" Natsu had jumped off his seat and was now standing in front of Levy, blocking her path.

"Oh really?" Levy faked surprisement, "then where is she now? Cause I really need speak to her!" She folded her arms together, giving Natsu a quizzical look.

Wendy and Charle watched from behind as the situation unfolded.

"He's lying," Charle whispered to Wendy, to which Wendy softly nodded to.

"Ne Charle! I just catched (bought) some great and delicious fish! Wanna share some with me?" Happy had approached the white exceed and was holding the fish her way.

"Shut it! I'm not in the mood right now!" She snapped back at him. Wendy just smiled nervously as she tried to calm her little friend down.

Natsu's face had paled as many strokes of sweat ran down his face. Levy continued to interrogate him.

"Natsu, I heard you wanted to apoligise to someone? Who is it and why?"

He looked down and let out a sigh. _I might as well tell her..._ he thought to himself.

Back at the entrance, Gajeel was just pushing himself through the gates, with Lily walking just beside him. He didn't greet anybody back as he was washed over with greetings. He simply made his way towards a nearby table, put a leg on top of the other and let his head rest on one hand. He glanced over at Levy... and Natsu standing in front of her, fidgeting and looking at the floor... Levy had a playful smile placed on her lips as she watched Natsu.

Gajeel suddenly felt an indescribable urge to push that fire breathing idiot away from her. He stood up and made his way over to them. Then he stood in between them, with his back turned to Levy and glaring down at Natsu.

"Yo fire breathing idiot," Gajeel said.

"What! You wanna start a fight! Then lets fight metal head!" Natsu positioned himself into a fighting stance and motioned for Gajeel to come at him.

Gajeel grinned, "gihe, I'll gladly fight you!" He then pushed Levy away softly and Levy understood this as a sign to get the hell out of there.

As the two dragon slayers engulfed themselves into one of their common fights, the rest of the guild members cheered them on and some even started to fight amongst themselves, practically caused just by an accidental bump, which evolved into a violent magic competition. Like this the whole guild had become a total mess in just a couple of minutes.

Gray was throwing fists at whoever dared to call him a snow flake again. Erza was... Well she was in her Titania Erza mode for she had given up on trying to shoo down the commotion a bit, but since it didn't work she decided to do it the hard way. (imagine the OST: Against Magic at this exact moment) she re-equipped herself to her ultimate armor: Purgatory armor. Anybody who dare not listen to her, would have to pay up in a way you wouldn't even imagine.

"Uraaaaaaaa!" She threw herself at Warren, who was, at that moment holding Max by the collar.

"Ah no! Titania Erza! Please don't kill me! I'll stop right now!" He said, letting go of Max and kneeling down. Erza was pushing her metallic shoe in his cheek, while a dark aura surrounded her.

The whole guild went still at witnessing this and they looked at each other. Each understanding what the other was thinking and immediately moved to shake hands with their opponents.

Erza glared at all of them, "if any of you start a fight again, I swear I won't be holding back." At this she removed her metallic shoe from Warren's cheek and re-equipped back to her normal knight armor.

Natsu and Gajeel had also forcely made peace with one another and were now standing in front of an angered Levy, "you two... Why are you always so violent! Couldn't the two of you keep it quiet for even a day?" She fumed at them, with her hands on her hips.

"Hmph! Stop nagging kid," Gajeel replied back, folding his arms together as he did so.

"Yeah! I want to finish our fight!" Natsu replied, annoyed at the fact that his fight was interrupted... But he'd rather run away with his tail in between his legs than having to face a pissed off Erza, and that's something he'd never want to experience again.

Suddenly, the guild's doors were opened violently and at the entrance stood a completely pissed off looking blonde stellar mage.

...

_Or Lucy for that matter_, Natsu thought and gulped down a lump in his throat as he saw Lucy stomp her way towards him, a red glint in her eyes.

Natsu backed away, scared for the sake of his life. He ran off and hid under a table as Lucy approached him slowly.

"Natsuuuuu~!" Lucy said, in a bitterly sweet way. It sounded almost like a horror movie where Natsu was the victim and Lucy the maniacal killer.

"L-Lucy! I'm really sorry for hitting you earlier! I-I was dreaming of having a fight with Gray, when all of a sudden I was attacked by his Ice Magic and so I hit back in a reflex, and..." Natsu trailed off the moment Lucy grabbed his arm and dragged him from under the table. She made him stand up and pulled one hand into the air and sent it back heading towards his cheek, but stopped just a few inches away from it.

"It's okay, I understand," she said and let her arm fall to her side, letting go of Natsu's arm.

Natsu had shut his eyes tightly and opened them again in surprise, "Luce..." He whispered her name. He was so happy he wanted to hug her at the spot, but was held back when he took a look at her face... She looked sad.

"I'm just disappointed that you didn't listen to the whole story, I guess I had too high expectations from you, but I can see I was wrong," Lucy said and lowered her head, biting back some tears.

Natsu had never felt this guilty in his whole life before. He wanted to punch himself for making Lucy sad. He wouldn't be worthy of the title of being her best friend if he hadn't done what he did next...

He enveloped her into a warm embrace, letting his chin rest on top of her hair. He softly inhaled the smell of her hair. _Sweet_, he thought. His mind was spinning from the utter pleasure it was bringing him, he didn't want to ever let go of her, it felt like she belonged right there in his arms.

Lucy, on her part, was taken by surprise when he suddenly hugged her. Her face turned many shades of red as she just stood there, petrified. After a few seconds she embraced him back, burying her face in his warm chest...

_Thump, thump, thump._

She was met by the sound of his heart beating rapidly in his chest. The sound of it soothed her and made her smile satisfactorily.

"I'm sorry Luce. I know I can't be forgiven this easily, but I just wanted to tell you how sorry I feel..." He let go of her and was met by a flushed face.

"Luce? Are you ill? Do you have a fever?" He brought his hand up to touch her forehead, but Lucy slapped it off her.

"I'm not!" She snapped back embarrasedly.

"Lu-chan!" Levy walked up to her and hugged her tightly, "I was so worried! I heard from Happy what happened!" She said and let her go.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, actually it isn't the first time its happened," Lucy managed to smile at her friend.

"Anyways, now that we're all here, we should start the reunion!" She said, looking at the clock. It was 1:33 PM already, they needed to hurry up or else it'll be too late.

"Right! Let's start!" Levy said with a look of determination.

"Natsu, follow us!" Lucy called back to her pink haired friend as she and Levy were already making their way towards the rest.

Natsu was just standing there. He was still bothered by a new discovery he had made: he had wanted Lucy to stay in his arms like that for ever, but why? He shook the thought off and ran over to the others.

S S S S S S S S

Back at a corner in the guild Erza was sitting at a table and across from her sat Gray and Juvia enjoying their meal. Juvia was oggling over Gray, while Gray just stayed ignorant to this showing off of affection coming from the rain woman. Erza, as usual, was enjoying the delicacies of an extra huge strawberry cake.

"It worries me," Gray suddenly said, startling both Erza and Juvia.

"What do you mean?" Erza asked, putting her fork aside.

"Don't you remember? Back then, what Lucy and Levy were talking about," Gray said and nodded in the direction where the big group was standing.

Erza and Juvia turned to look over at the group. They were making their way to the exit and Erza spoke up, "so, you mean to say that this is the private reunion they were talking about?"

"Yes, why else would they leave without saying anything," Gray said and leaned back in his chair, patting his exposed belly. He didn't notice either that the rain woman had almost fainted from blushing too much and while saying something like, "Gray-sama~~~! Juvia is not ready yet!"

"You're right. We should go look and see what they're up to," Erza said and sweat dropped at watching Juvia's and Gray's antics. "I'll go look for them, Gray and Juvia, you both stay here."

"Why? I want to go along too!" Gray leaned forward and hit the table with his fists.

He should have expected Erza's serious glare afterwards, "it's better if just one of us goes. We don't want to draw too many attention."

"Tch!" Gray retorted back, frustrated. He hated it when he couldn't be useful, but he knew he couldn't disobey Erza, besides she was right after all.

"Gray-sama, Juvia will stay by your side, don't worry!" Juvia tried to cheer him up, but failed.

"I'll be right back, we'll discuss about this later." Erza said and left for the exit. Gray an Juvia watched her go, both with a worried expression on their faces.

S S S S S S S S

"So, why are we heading towards Lucy's house?" Natsu asked, totally oblivious towards what was happening. He was just dragged along with them, no questions answered.

"Just wait until we get there! It's your own fault for not paying attention anyways," Lucy, who was walking right beside him, snapped back at him.

Natsu pouted and brought his arms behind his head. He had been feeling an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach every moment he thought about the fact of other people invading Lucy's house.

Levy watched the two from behind and smiled to herself a bit. She couldn't help but think how much those two complemented each other. Too bad they themselves still had to realise it yet.

"What're you grinning about, kid," Gajeel spoke up from beside her.

"Shhhh! None of your business, and stop calling me a kid!" Levy waved her arms in a desperate manner.

"Tch! Whatever," Gajeel pouted and looked away.

"You lllllllllike her!" Happy had suddenly popped up in front of them and had a paw covering a chuckle as a little blush appeared on his blue fur.

"THERE'S NO WAY I DO!" Gajeel snapped back at Happy in an embarrassed tone.

After a while they were standing in front of Lucy's door.

"Please, don't touch anything and pleeeease don't start a fight amongst yourselves," Lucy said and directed herself only to Gajeel, Natsu and Happy.

Lucy opened the door to her apartment and let them in. They positioned themselves on her couch, bed and even on the floor.

"Okay," Levy spoke up, "let's start the reunion."

Lucy inhaled softly and let the air out again, she was nervous and confused. "Okay, so we gathered all of you for a purpose and except for Natsu and Happy I think all of you already know what it's about."

"Yes we do," Wendy answered for both her and Charle.

"Yup!" Gajeel and Lily nodded in Lucy's direction.

Natsu and Happy tilted their heads to the side in confusion, looking up at Lucy who was sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Fine," she then looked down at Natsu, "listen well, I'm gonna tell you what happened again and I'm hoping you don't fall asleep."

Natsu nodded firmly and positioned himself in a lotus stance.

"Aye sir!" Happy chimed in.

Lucy moved on to tell them the whole story and was surprised to see both Natsu and Happy so engulfed in her story, _I mean_, they were way too engulfed since she didn't even see them blink once. _They're monsters_, she thought and sweatdropped.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong Lucy-san. You mean to say that only with our help you'll be able to rescue your spirits?" Wendy asked after Lucy had finished explaining.

Both Levy and Lucy nodded, "yes, that's what Aries said, I see no other way around it."

"So what is our plan? We don't have much time left, besides you said that the books were scattered all over Earthland. It's impossible for us to find all of them in just 12 weeks, right?" Lily said with a serious look.

"That, we don't know. We should find a way to do it, or else..." Lucy answered him and looked down, not being able to finnish her sentence.

"Why don't we split up then?" Natsu suddenly spoke up, making everyone turn to look his way.

Levy opened her eyes as a bright smile made its way to her face, "Natsu! You're a genius!" She sang, to wish Natsu grinned satisfactorily.

"What a good idea Natsu-san! I think we should split up too!" Wendy said and smiled softly.

Charle and Gajeel nodded in agreement.

"Aye!" was Happy's reply.

"So that means we should form teams," Lucy said and everybody turned their attention back to her.

"Lu-chan, you lost you strongest spirits, which means you're very vulnerable at the moment..." Levy said and continued, "you need a strong person to accompany you," she said and turned to look at Natsu, "I think you two should form a team."

Lucy thought it over for a minute and nodded in agreement, "you're right! Natsu let's form a team!"

Natsu grinned up at her and nodded, "yeah! This feels just like the old times!" He said and pumped his fist in the air.

"What about me then?" Happy suddenly spoke up, he had little tears in his eyes.

At this, Levy approached him and whispered something in his ears which made the blue exceed smile brightly.

"So! It's all set now! Gajeel, Wendy, Charle, Happy, Lily and me are team number two!" Levy said.

"Yeah!" The whole group said in unison.

''Let's start packing our things up, and we'll be meeting tomorrow again at the station at 6:00 AM. From there we'll set our route and leave. Get some good rest guys!'' Levy said to which all of them nodded in agreement, not noticing a scarlett haired woman eavesdropping on their whole conversation just from the other side of the door.

"So this is what they've been so secretive about," she said and turned, heading back to the guild, "they'll not get out of this one before taking us along."

S S S S S S S

That night, Lucy was looking out of her window over at the dimmed lights on the streets of Magnolia, watching the few people make their ways back to their homes from a hard works day. She was thinking about everything that had happened that day and sighed, she definitely would rescue her friends, she definitely would make up for it. They needed her as much as she needed them. She laid down in her bed and closed her eyes to slowly fall into a deep slumber and dream about a certain pink haired fire mage... _wait. how did he get into my dream! AAAH Lucy stop dreaming about him! _

**To be continued...**

* * *

><p>Done! It was a whole lot, I know =.= Thanks for reading up till the end anyways! :D<p>

**Author's Questions and Answers section:**

- **Q: **Where did Plue disappear to in the first chapter? **A: **Well, what else would you think. He saw Droy holding onto a very tasty lollypop, so he sneaked up to him and clutched himself to it, sucking on it happily. Puun puun!

- **Q: **Gajeel lives in an apartment? **A: **Well, in my story he does yes. Where else would he be living then XD

- **Q: **Will there be Gray x Juvia in this story? **A: **Personally, I love this pairing, and I'm thinking of including it in this story.

- **Q: **Where's master Makarov? **A: **Probably at the hotsprings for old men like him. He's gotta keep himself fresh and healthy and unwrinkly after all. *note the irony*

- **Q: **Will Mirajane have a love interest in this story? **A: **Who knows? You know? Cause I don't :p

- **Q: **Will any of the characters die? **A: **Look! A flying cow! Wait... First there're flying cats... And now its cows too? *facepalm*

Well, I hope I cleared up some of your uncertainties. Please look forward to next week's chapter 3!


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